JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —
The video attached to this story is from a previous, related report.
JEA has given customers one more day to pay their bills before they disconnect their electric.
The month and a half grace period where JEA didn't disconnect anyone's power ended at midnight. Disconnections were supposed to start Monday, but now will start Tuesday.
"JEA has experienced an extremely high volume of calls since early this morning, and we want to ensure customers have the opportunity to make a payment or payment arrangement throughout the day," JEA Manager of Media Relations Karen McAllister said in a statement.
According to McAllister, JEA received more than 27,000 calls by lunchtime. Lines at the JEA office downtown were extremely long too, customers said. Some said they waited up to three hours in line.
You can pay your JEA bill at jea.com or request a payment arrangement. There are also 400 authorized payment locations throughout Jacksonville. You can click here to view them. Some are open past 5 p.m.
"As a community-owned utility, we do not want any customers to lose the services they depend upon daily. That is why we provided a six-week grace period during the peak of summer heat. We have worked diligently to notify customers about their options and the upcoming deadline," McAllister said.
By six p.m. Monday, McAllister said 3,857 customers were at risk of getting their electric disconnected at some point this week because they hadn't paid their bills.
"The line was long, to the back of the building and you had people fussing ... but we were all trying to basically do the same thing, trying to pay our bills,” Theresa Mitchell, who waited three hours in line at JEA's downtown office, said.
She's one of thousands at risk of being in the dark if she didn't pay her bill.
"It would be very stressful trying to figure out how to maneuver in the dark, how to take a decent hot bath. You gotta tell the babies 'well, we’re going to get the lights back on. They’re going to come back on. Mommy’s going to get them back on.'" That’s very stressful for a child to have to be in the dark. It's stressful for anyone to be in the dark," Mitchell said.
Neighbors are able to help each other pay their bills through Guest Pay and the Neighbor to Neighbor Fund.
In Guest Pay customers can directly pay someone else's JEA bill if you know who that person is, for example a friend or family member. Click here for more about Guest Pay.
Through the Neighbor to Neighbor Fund, JEA customers are invited to pay a little extra on their own monthly JEA bill. The excess money goes into a community pot.
There is no administrative fee on these funds, which are used to help the elderly, disabled or those who struggle to pay their JEA bills. So far this year, more than 500 JEA customers have benefited from the Neighbor to Neighbor Fund with an average of about $300 of assistance, according to JEA.
You can click here to learn more about the Neighbor to Neighbor Fund.
If you are in need of assistance, click this link to learn more about community groups and programs for people who are struggling with their JEA bill or other financial issues.
JEA is starting disconnections with the customers who are the most overdue. It will disconnect electricity, and if a customer hasn't paid an overdue bill in five days, their water will also get turned off.